FORT MYERS, Fla. — Ah, this leadership thing.
Yes, David Ortiz was a great leader. The 2016 Red Sox won 93 games and lost in the Division Series in Ortiz’s final season. Without Ortiz, the 2017 Sox won 93 games and lost in the Division Series.
Nothing against Ortiz, but was there really a leadership void last season if the Sox won the same amount of games?
We’ve heard Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts talk about how there was no joy in the clubhouse at times last season. Sometimes there just isn’t joy in the workplace, but does that mean there’s a production void as a result? In the Red Sox’ case, there wasn’t.
They had some issues last year. The two biggies were the Manny Machado incident involving Dustin Pedroia and the David Price/Dennis Eckersley incident. We saw the optics of when Pedroia yelled out to Machado, “It’s not me, it’s them!’’ after the Sox retaliated and it wasn’t a good look, but nor was it devastating to the team, as it was built up to be.
“Yeah, we talked about those things,’’ Pedroia said Saturday. “I think as a team we were together all the time. Those things happen. It’s baseball. When you sit back and look at it, could it have been handled differently? One hundred percent. Like everything in life, you make mistakes and then you don’t make mistakes. You learn from it. You move forward. You understand if you’re in another situation like that [and] you want to do something different, you do something different. That’s what we all took out of it.’’
OK, done. Pedroia said the team moved on quickly.
I know there’s questions among Red Sox Nation whether Pedroia is the true leader of the team. Fans can question that all they want. It’s what the players think that matters. It’s about who the players believe is their leader. Previously that leader was Jason Varitek, and as Pedroia pointed out, when Varitek left he passed the torch to Ortiz. When Ortiz left he passed the torch to Pedroia. And that’s how the players view it.
Pedroia, who said he’s ahead of schedule on his rehab from major restoration cartilage surgery on his left knee, said the more he’s thought about this leadership question, the more he believes it has to be a multiplayer effort.
He pointed to the 2004 Red Sox with Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Varitek, et al. He pointed to the 2007 team with Varitek, Mike Lowell, and Alex Cora, and the 2013 team with Mike Napoli, Ryan Dempster, Shane Victorino, Ortiz, and others.
“It’s me, Mookie, [Andrew Benintendi], Bogey . . . it’s our team. We have to be together and we know that. When ’Tek was done, we were OK because he built that into David and David built that into me. I’ve got to find a better way to realize it’s not one guy, it’s everybody. After thinking about it, that’s what it is. It’s not about having one leader and one guy on the pitching staff. No, we need everybody to win in this level and to win in this environment.
“We had a workout before the playoff series and I was sitting in the cage by myself and I was hurting. Bogey comes in, and he’s the happiest kid ever and he says to me, ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ [I said], ‘I don’t know. I hope I can find a way to play. I hope they throw it right down the middle.’ Bogey says, ‘You’re going to be fine.’ I said, ‘Hey Bogey, that’s what I’m talking about. There are days when I come in and I need you. We all need each other. It’s OK to be that guy. Let it all come out.’
“We’re at the point now where they understand that. You can see their personalities come out. Mookie’s more vocal. Bogey is more vocal. Benny will get there. It’s their team. We’ve got to do it together.’’
Pedroia took up where Betts and Bogaerts left off this past week talking about the joyless times last season.
“I just think for whatever reason, our overall outlook was result-oriented that day,’’ Pedroia said. “That can wear on you as an everyday player and as a pitcher. If you fail seven out of 10 times, you’re really good. If you’re result-oriented, it seems the only way you’re going to be happy is if we win by 10 runs and you go 4 for 4 and hit four home runs. That’s not realistic. So you have to look at the big picture. Over the course of the year, it’s a process. If you prepare the right way and stick to the process, you’ll be fine. Put in the work and it’ll be there. There’s less stress and technically panic.’’
Pedroia referenced his first full season in the majors in 2007, when Cora came to his emotional rescue when he was hitting .150 in April. He said Cora kept telling him that things would come together if he stuck to his routine. Pedroia went on to win AL Rookie of the Year.
“The next year I was hitting .250 at the end of June. Alex was right there and reinforced those things to me and I won the MVP of the league. If you think just result that day, it’s not going to be fun,’’ Pedroia said.
And so that wisdom, which Pedroia first learned from Cora, will play out with the Red Sox this season. Maybe there was no joy in the clubhouse last year. Maybe it was a season where leadership was emerging from other sources.
What’s true is that Pedroia has seen how team leadership works. He knows it better than anyone. It doesn’t matter what you think or what I think. What matters is what the players think, and all of them think Pedroia is the leader of this team.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.
